The cost of the common sick employee

Business owners know that sick employees greatly reduce their production costs, but how much money are they losing in sick leave? In the United States approximately 56% of medium to large businesses provide paid sick leave for their employees. The average number of annual paid sick leave days ranged from 11.2 days after one year of service and increased to 21.1 days after 25 years of service. The average number of sick days used per year by a salaried exempt employee is 3.8 days. Salaried nonexempt employees use an average of 5.6 days. Non-union hourly employees used an average of 4.8 days and union hourly employees used and average of 5.6 days.

So what is the cost of sick leave for a common cold? An employee that works hourly for $7 per hour and a total of 30 hours per week would make $810 per month or $10,080 per year. The total cost of sick leave would total $90.72 per year. The company is paying out approximately 13 free hours per year to the employee. For a salaried employee of $70,000 a year the cost to the company would be $630.00 for the year. This is approximately $13 per hour compared to their figured hourly rate of $33.65 per hour. This cost is minimal to the company to keep employees productive, satisfied, and healthy.

Companies that do not provide paid sick leave see an increased number of employees that come in to work while still sick as they stress over the fact that they cannot afford to take days off without income. Those employees become less productive and effective for the company. Companies without paid sick leave experience higher turnover rates which increases the costs of recruitment and training. When employees come into work sick, they increase the chances of getting their co-workers sick, costing the company more money in paid time off and lost production costs.

Illnesses that spread throughout the office account for 22 million days of lost work and almost 8 million doctor visits a year and productivity is greatly reduced by expecting a sick employee to stay on task. Sick leave allows employees to care for their health and the health of their families. It also promotes a family-friendly atmosphere attached to the sick leave programs. This will enhance employee retention and most employees say they are more satisfied with their job. It really does boost employee morale when they know they are able to step away from work to care for a loved one without the added stress of not getting paid or having repercussions upon returning to work.

Although the main goal of your company may be to make money, you still need to care for the emotional needs of your employees. A lot of businesses have found that an investment in their employee's health will greatly increase job satisfaction and reduce workplace illnesses. It will be much cheaper to spend some money to help your employees and their well-being than it will be to lose valuable employees and have to re-train some new ones. The downside to training a new employee is that they may not come with the same skill set that your previous employees had and this can cost you a lot of money in lost production costs. It is much easier to invest money in disinfectant wipes and antibacterial hand lotions to prevent the spread of illness in the office than it will be to lose employees for weeks, sometimes months at a time. It really doesn't cost your company that much money to pay for sick leave if you plan on keeping these employees at your office for a long time.